Central Texas landowners want answers from Texas Central about future of train route

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Ninety-three property owners across nine Texas counties say they want answers about the future of the proposed high-speed train from Houston to Dallas.

Attorneys representing the property owners sent a letter to Texas Central questioning the current status of the project.

Attorneys say residents and landowners have suffered long enough and should be allowed to move on with their lives if the project is no longer going to happen.

Lawyers for the landowners say with no clear leadership in place at Texas Central, combined with what they call a “hibernation phase in search of financing” leads them to believe Texas Central is no longer pursuing construction of the project. Carlos Aguilar, president, and CEO of Texas Central announced his departure from the company on the Social Media Platform LinkedIn earlier this year.

Two weeks after Aguilar’s resignation the bullet train appeared to receive a new breath of life after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas Central had the right and authority to use eminent domain to seize the land needed for the project.

The letter from the attorneys also lists twenty questions they say landowners and the general public deserve the answers to, including who is running the company, the company’s financial status, and why mail that’s being sent to Texas Central’s Dallas office is being returned undeliverable.

Attorneys also stated in the letter that if their questions are not answered they plan to seek what is called a Rule 202 deposition to investigate and seek the answers for themselves.

“If Texas Central is unwilling to publicly state that it no longer intends to construct the Project or, alternatively, provide full and complete answers to the questions above, we intend to file a Rule 202 petition to investigate potential claims against Texas Central. The record upon which the Texas Supreme Court recently granted Texas Central eminent domain authority was restricted to August 2018. Four years have passed, and in those four years new facts have developed, many of which are set forth in this letter,” the letter said. “These new facts demonstrate that Texas Central no longer has any intention of constructing the Project. We do not intend to relitigate the eminent domain issues the Texas Supreme Court recently decided. Rather, we intend to investigate, based on the facts and circumstances as they exist today, whether Texas Central is, in fact, planning to construct and operate an interurban electric railway.”

The full letter sent to Texas Central can be found below.

KBTX reached out to the attorneys and Texas Central for comment but did not receive a reply.

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